Ontario MPP, France Gélinas, says a well-designed basic income policy could help women stay home if they want to take care of their aging parents. Gélinas, an MPP with Ontario’s New Democratic Party (NDP) and a health critic for her party, says women in the 50-65 age bracket often find themselves in the difficult position of placing their mother or ... Read More »
Tag Archives: Roderick Benns
The nature of work and how we define ourselves is now in question: Opposition MPP
Progressive Conservative MPP, Julia Munro, says the very nature of work is changing so rapidly that societies are having difficulty figuring out how to respond. Munro, who is the PC critic for the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, says the “nature of work has changed so much.” “Everything has always been pinned on our work – our employment. It’s the way ... Read More »
DiNovo says Basic Income must work in tandem with new workplace standards
Fifty years ago, MPP Cheri DiNovo’s father was involved with the Basic Income movement in Canada. That shows the longevity of an idea that has refused to die, she says, as Ontario and other jurisdictions in Canada and around the world contemplate moving forward with some kind of minimum income guarantee. While the NDP’s DiNovo is very supportive of the ... Read More »
John A. Macdonald would have supported a Basic Income policy
If there’s one thing Prime Minister John A. Macdonald could do exceptionally well, it was to recognize where the political winds were blowing. That’s not a criticism. The most able of politicians help move societies where they actually want to go anyway. Leaders and governments merely ensure a smooth transition, if they are doing their jobs well. As we get ... Read More »
Our most basic needs in society surely includes money
For too many years Canada has danced around what is perhaps the central issue in social policy development. What are the most basic needs of Canadian citizens? If one were to read a recent report from the Mowat Centre called Working Without a Net: Rethinking Canada’s Social Policy in the New Age of Work one wouldn’t think it was money. ... Read More »
P.E.I. Green Party leader: Look beyond economic measurements for full benefits of Basic Income
Although he counts himself lucky not to have experienced poverty firsthand, the Green Party leader of Prince Edward Island, Peter Bevan-Baker, has many friends who haven’t been as fortunate. When he rose in the P.E.I. Legislature last week and got all-party support for a Basic Income project to be set up on the island, he may have had them in ... Read More »
Followed by poverty, Peterborough man finds hopeful cause in Basic Income
When he was a young man, just leaving high school, Jason Hartwick always pictured himself in front of a classroom. He saw himself as a high school teacher, helping to inspire young people and to guide them along their lives’ paths. The thing is, Hartwick didn’t have anyone to guide him. He grew up in poverty, bounced around from town ... Read More »
Basic Income has ‘two sources of benefit’ to modify human behaviour: Mincome leader
There are “two sources of benefit” inherent in a Basic Income Guarantee, according to the executive director of the famous Mincome project in Winnipeg and Dauphin, Manitoba. Ron Hikel, who served as executive director of Mincome from 1972 to 1977, says the first source of behavioural influence is the simple no-strings-attached receipt of the money itself. The second is “the ... Read More »
Segal says health and work behaviours will be key to measure in Basic Income pilot
Retired Conservative Senator Hugh Segal’s long awaited report on Ontario’s Basic Income pilot has been released, where he emphasizes the need to understand the full costs of poverty before fairly evaluating the new pilot. Segal recommends a monthly payment of at least $1,320 for a single person which is about 75 percent of the province’s poverty line. For those with ... Read More »